State unemployment rates in December 2013

January 30, 2014

In December, Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rate among the states, at 9.1 percent. The next highest rates were in Nevada, 8.8 percent, and Illinois, 8.6 percent. North Dakota continued to have the lowest jobless rate, 2.6 percent.

In total, 17 states had jobless rates significantly lower than the U.S. figure of 6.7 percent, 9 states and the District of Columbia had measurably higher rates, and 24 states had rates that were not appreciably different from that of the nation.

Over the month, 39 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from November, 2 states had increases, and 9 states had no change.

From December 2012 to December 2013, 42 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, 6 states had increases, and 2 states had no change.

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. To learn more, see "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — December 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-14-0126. Data for the most recent month are preliminary and subject to revision.